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What to know | Nicolas Cage as Legendary Coach in Madden Trailer — One Line Reveals the Video Game's Origin Story

The key details: The trailer for David O. Russell's biopic Madden has dropped, with Nicolas Cage playing legendary football coach John Madden. The film recreates the pivotal scene where he discusses the design of the original Madden NFL game with EA founder Trip Hawkins.

Hsin-Yi Ho, Food Editor
What to know | Nicolas Cage as Legendary Coach in Madden Trailer — One Line Reveals the Video Game's Origin Story

"You only have seven men on a team, and I'm out!" When Nicolas Cage delivers this line with an almost exaggerated, near-shouting intensity, John Mulaney stands across from him on screen, slicked back in a glossy suit, playing a tech startup founder pitching a video game concept. This exchange is the standout moment in the trailer for the biopic Madden — not a victory or defeat on the field, but a negotiation over whether a "7-on-7 football game" should even exist.

Directed by David O. Russell, the film takes its title directly from its subject: the late legendary football coach John Madden. This marks Cage's first time portraying the real-life figure, complete with his signature exaggerated wig and prosthetics — consistent with his usual approach to playing larger-than-life characters. The trailer shows the story tracing Madden's forced retirement from coaching due to health issues, his transition to the broadcast booth, and finally arriving at the identity younger generations know him best for — the namesake of the video game.

John Mulaney, playing EA founder Trip Hawkins, delivers his pitch to Madden with a deliberately slick entrepreneurial tone, exclaiming "This is it! This is the future!" According to the trailer, Madden rejects Hawkins' initial 7-on-7 version of the game, bluntly pointing out that an NFL team fields 11 players, not 7 — a moment framed as the pivotal turning point that shaped the original Madden NFL game.

Another storyline follows Madden's partnership with Al Davis, owner of the Las Vegas Raiders (then still the Oakland Raiders), with whom he won the Super Bowl championship in 1977. Christian Bale, who plays Davis, delivers a noticeably restrained performance in contrast to Cage's style. Kathryn Hahn plays Madden's wife, Virginia, while Sienna Miller plays Davis' wife, Carol.

Madden hits theaters on November 11 and streams on Prime Video starting November 18.

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